Tough night for Bartow teams on the gridiron
All three Bartow County high school football teams in action Friday night lost to region opponents.
Adairsville led 21-0 early at Ringgold, but lost 47-42. Woodland was blanked by visiting Villa Rica 36-0 and Cass fell at Hiram, 14-7.
Cartersville was idle this week.
Adairsville leads early, but drops region opener
Kevin Pate, WBHF contributor
The Adairsville Tigers got off to a quick start against the Ringgold Tigers Friday night but ultimately fell by a score of 47-42 in Ringgold.
The Region 6-AAA cross-over game could hold weight at the end of the season for region playoff seeding, but was not a sub-region game for the local Tigers.
Adairsville controlled the first quarter by scoring the game's first 21 points.
Christian Steel took a fumble recovery 45 yards into the end zone for the game’s first score. One drive later, quarterback Mason Boswell connected with Cody Henderson for a 42-yard touchdown play. On the next drive, Boswell hooked up with Ethan Belcher for a 36-yard score that gave the visiting Tigers a 21-0 lead.
Ringgold didn’t count itself out, however.
Andre Tarver scored on a 2-yard touchdown run and Ty Jones scored on the next possession to cut the Adairsville lead to 21-14 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter was then controlled by Ringgold. Cole Kibler tossed a 28-yard touchdown pass to Drake Starks to tie the game at 21 each. Ringgold then scored on its fourth consecutive drive to take a 27-21 lead after a missed PAT.
Adairsville found a way to answer on the ensuing kickoff. Travon Branch returned the kick 97 yards for a touchdown that gave Adairsville a 28-27 lead. Ringgold did not go away, however.
Kibler, who passed for more than 200 yards on the night, found Tarver for a 20-yard touchdown pass and then took the ball in himself on the next drive for a 40-28 Ringgold lead.
Ringgold ended the first half on a 40-7 scoring run.
Adairsville narrowed the lead to five points in the third quarter when Boswell rushed 41 yards for a score, but Ringgold answered on the next drive with a Jones 25-yard run for a touchdown.
Adairsville added another score on a Boswell 12 yard run, but that was as close as they would get following a scoreless fourth quarter.
Ringgold evened its season record at 2-2.
Adairsville (2-2, 0-0) continues cross-over region play next week with a home game against Murray County at 7:30. Sub-region play for the Tigers begins October 6 against Calhoun. The Murray County game September 22 will be live on BartowSportsZone.com with pregame coverage starting at 6 p.m.
Villa Rica Overpowers Woodland
The Woodland Wildcats had their two-game winning streak snapped on Friday night with a 36-0 loss to Villa Rica.
The Wildcats had trouble moving past the big defensive line of Villa Rica all night and had trouble containing Phillip Zachery who compiled over 100 rushing yards.
Villa Rica scored on four of its five first-half possessions with three of those drives culminating with touchdown runs. The visiting Wildcats built a 22-0 lead in the first two quarters.
Zachery, Elijah Fluker, and Mecose Todd each scored on touchdown runs for Villa Rica. Another first-half drive ended with a 25-yard field goal by Luke Darby.
Woodland quarterback Brody Williams led the host Wildcats with 96 yards rushing and completed a 15 yard pass to Demarcus Williams. Williams added 55 yards rushing.
Villa Rica improved to 3-1 overall and 1-1 in Region 7-AAAAA.
Woodland (2-2, 1-1) travels to fourth-ranked Carrollton next Friday for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.
Red Zone failures plague Colonels at Hiram
The Cass Colonels fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter Friday night at Region 7-AAAAA rival Hiram and could not overcome the early deficit in a 14-7 loss.
Cass reached the red zone four times in the game and came up empty on each attempt. Their only score came in the fourth quarter on a long pass play.
Hiram struck first with a 1-yard touchdown run by Marcel Murray to cap an opening 76-yard drive that took 10 plays.
After stopping Cass on their first red zone attempt, the Hornets got the ball back on their own 25-yard line. One play later, Murray hit paydirt on a 75-yard gallop that gave Hiram a 14-0 lead.
Cass reached the red zone again late in the second quarter, but failed to capitalize and went to the intermission trailing by two touchdowns.
In the third quarter, the Colonels recovered a Hiram fumble at the Hornets 10 yard line but failed to score again.
Cass finally got on the scoreboard with 6:09 remaining in the game. Rett Moore connected with Malik Grimes on a pass that Grimes tipped to himself and out ran the defense 69-yards to the end zone.
Anthony Robledo added the PAT to narrow the Hiram lead to 14-7.
The Colonels got the ball back one more time in the final minute at their own 3-yard line, but turned the ball over on an interception.
Thomas Gilliam finished with 90 yards on 15 carries for Cass. Rett Moore ran 14 times for 62 yards and Grimes had the 69-yard touchdown catch.
On defense, Tripp Breeden had six tackles, including two for loss. Evan Hinton added six tackles and one for loss. He also recovered a fumble.
Hiram improved to 2-2 overall and 1-1 in Region 7-AAAAA.
Cass (0-4, 0-2) travels to ninth-ranked Kell (1-3, 1-1) next Friday in Cobb County.
(Cass stats courtesy Andrew Houghton, The Daily Tribune News.)
